Mesopotamia Study Guide

b. Negatives: washed away homes and crops, unpredictable at times, could not live too close to river

2. Why is Mesopotamia known as the Fertile Crescent?

a. It is crescent shaped and the land is very fertile from the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.

3. Why did people have to leave their original settlements?

a. There was a food shortage since the population grew so much, so people moved to the foothills for more space.

Once there, there was flooding from the rivers, so people had to learn to irrigate. When they irrigated, they

controlled the water, which meant that other villages were under their control, so attacks happened between

villages.

4. What was the first form of writing, and why was it so important?

a. Cuneiform: helped communicate and write down records - taxes.

5. What was the effect of laws?

a. People now had order, there was someone in charge, there was a clear social class order.

6. Why did Mesopotamian people settle in the river valleys?

a. There was a food shortage where they originally built their community because the population had grown so large. Then, because there were so many people, there was not enough land to grow enough crops to feed them all, so people migrated to the foothills. Once there, they built their community along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and soon discovered that the rivers flooding created a lot of damage to their homes and their crops. Since water was uncontrolled at that point, the people needed to find a solution, so they built irrigation systems. These levees, channels, canals, and ditches allowed them to control the water. Then, the problem arose of who would control the irrigation systems since all of the irrigation systems going to the different city-states were connected. This started wars amongst the city-states for control and power of the irrigation systems.